Cityscapes of Hellenistic Sicily: A Reassessment

For a long time, research on urban culture in Hellenistic Sicily has produced historical reconstructions predominantly based on literary sources. This methodological approach has created a “Renaissance-Decadence” interpretative paradigm, still dominant in scholarly literature: a flourishing urban revival between the reigns of Timoleon and Hieron, dating around the end of the 4th and the 3rd century BC, followed by a progressive decline after the Roman conquest of Syracuse in 212/1 BC and a concomitant provincialization of the entire island. Recent research has challenged these conclusions and provoked a drastic change in methodologies and perspectives, showing that monumentalization of many cities occurred only from the 2nd c BC onwards, and that a considerable vitality of civic life is attested and documented in this period. Instead of a general decline under Roman rule, Sicily provides a highly differentiated picture of change as well as shifting traditions, concepts, mentalities, and perceptions.

The main aim of this two-day conference is to foster a dialogue between scholars currently working on the cityscapes of Hellenistic Sicily from different perspectives. The conference includes four sessions that explore different disciplinary approaches to a reassessment of cityscaping: history and urban spaces (I), epigraphy and urban spaces (II), literature and urban spaces (III), and archaeology and urban spaces (IV). The outcome is to offer shared perspectives to research about urban space and culture in Sicily during the Hellenistic period, setting the stage for future investigations and overviews.

Program